.9
-
as far as commercial activities are concerned -
(a)
(
(ii)
(b)
no banks will be open on these two days;
it will not be necessary for any person to make any payment or to do any other act relating to any negotiable instrument on these two days. All obligation to make such payment or to do any such other act will apply to the next following day not being itself a general holiday;
(iii) these two days will be excluded in computing the time for the
first allotment of shares and debentures in a public company; and (iv) stamp duty payable in respect of an instrument by reference to a
sum of money expressed in a foreign currency will be, where the date of instrument falls on either of these two days, based on the exchange rate on the preceding business day instead of the date of instrument;
as far as legal and judicial proceedings are concerned -
(i) (ii)
the courts will not be open on these two days;
in civil actions, these two days will be excluded in computing the relevant period for doing certain acts in any stage of proceedings where such period in question is a period of seven days or less;
and
(iii) in criminal cases, these two days will be excluded in computing the time within which a notice of intention to prosecute must be given and also excluded from the time limits for serving an alibi notice;
as far as other activities are concerned -
(c)
Ü
no educational establishments will be open on these two days; and
(ii)
the period within which registration of births and deaths must take place will exclude these two days.
The explanatory memorandum also points out that the introduction of the Bill is also desirable for employers and employees, as it not only removes any uncertainty over their legal rights and duties for these two statutory holidays but also allows time for an employer who may require his employees to work on these two days to make prior arrangements with his employees for substituted holidays to be granted as provided in the Employment Ordinance.